Structure for maintaining a space between overlapping roof shingles

ABSTRACT

A structure for maintaining between overlapping roof shingles a space through which air can circulate. An inclined roof has a shingle provided with an upper edge and inclined downwardly from its upper edge at the inclination of the roof. An elongated bar extends longitudinally at the inclination of the roof over the shingle and has at an upper end a hook which is adapted to extend around the upper edge of the shingle so that the bar will remain over the shingle hooked to the upper edge thereof. A plurality of spacers are distributed along this bar and are pivotally connected thereto. The spacers extend laterally from the bar and are adapted to maintain a spaced relation between the shingle and another shingle situated thereover in partly overlapping relationship therewith, so that air may circulate between the shingles.

ite States Patent 1 Simon STRUCTURE FOR MAINTAINING A SPACE BETWEEN OVERLAPPING ROOF SHINGLES [76] Inventor: Hans Simon, Bruchhausener Strasse,

5463 Unkel (Rhine), Germany [22] Filed: Mar. 24, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 237,805

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 29,496, April 17,

[58] Field of Search ..52/l73, 553, 677, 52/688, 663, 669

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1904 Cummings ..52/669 6/1932 Shuman ..52/553X [451 May 29, 1973 2,919,458 1/1960 Yates et al ..52/663 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 630,542 7/1963 Belgium ..52/677 Primary Erqrnir er AlfredC. Perham Attorney-Harold D. Steinberg and Martin Blake [5 7] ABSTRACT A structure for maintaining between overlapping roof shingles a space through which air can circulate. An inclined roof has a shingle provided with an upper edge and inclined downwardly from its upper edge at the inclination of the roofi An elongated bar extends longitudinally at the inclination of the roof over the shingle and has at an upper end a hook which is adapted to extend around the upper edge of the shingle so that the bar will remain over the shingle hooked to the upper edge thereof. A plurality of spacers are distributed along this bar and are pivotally connected thereto. The spacers extend laterally from the bar and are adapted to maintain a spaced relation between the shingle and another shingle situated thereover in partly overlapping relationship therewith, so that air may circulate between the shingles.

11 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEU EH2 9 I975 sum 1 0P2 Fig.1, Fig. 4

* FOR MAINTAINING A SPACE BETWEEN OVERLAPPING ROOF SHINGLES CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 29,496, filed Apr. 17, 1970 and entitled STRUCTURE FOR PROVIDING AIR CIRCULATION AT THE ROOF OF A BUILDING.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to roofs.

In particular, the present invention relates to inclined shingled roofs provided with a structure for permitting air to circulate between the shingles of the roof. As is shown in the above application, between the peak and cave of an inclined roof there are rows of shingles with each row apparently overlapping the next row and maintained spaced therefrom by spacers situated be tween the overlapping rows of shingles. These spacers are in the form of elongated bodies arranged in at least two rows with the bodies in each row spaced from each other while being staggered with respect to the other row of spacer bodies, so that in this way air can circulate through passages defined between the spacer bodres.

The present invention relates in particular to a structure of this type which is provided with spacers of X- shaped cross section.

As is illustrated in the above application, in order to mount the spacers in a convenient rapid manner, an adhesive is applied at least to one side of the spacers and they are then adhered to the shingles. Also, a group of spacers may be preliminarily adhered to an elastic sheet with the spacers arranged in one or more rows in predetermined positions with respect to each other, and then this sheet is unrolled onto a row of shingles.

This type of construction has proved to be highly satisfactory for spacers having, for example, a rectangular cross section. However, when the spacers are made of intersecting wall portions providing the spacers with an X-shaped cross section, the extent of elastic deformability of the spacers, whether they are directly adhered to a shingle or initially mounted on an elastic sheet, is

reduced in an undesirable manner. Since the edges of the wall portions of the spacers of X-shaped cross section have only relatively small surface areas for adhering to a shingle or sheet, additional measures are frequently required to improve the adhering action between the spacers and the shingle or a sheet on which the spacers are initially mounted, and these additional measures have proved to be unfavorable with respect to manufacturing and mounting costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a structure which will avoid these drawbacks. I

Thus, it is in particular an object of the present invention to provide a spacer assembly of the above general type utilizing elongated spacer bodies of X-shaped cross section while avoiding any problems with respect to adhering of the spacers to the structure which carries the spacers.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a construction of this type which will enable the spacers to be very rapidly and conveniently situated between partly overlapping rows of shingles in such a way that the spacers, even though they have an X-shaped cross section, nevertheless will reliably remain in the desired positions without any problems resulting from nonadhering of the spacers to the structure which carries them.

It is in particular an object of the present invention to provide a structure of this type which does not rely on adhering of the spacers to a structure which carries them and which instead permits the spacers to be very conveniently mounted in a position in which they will reliably remain.

According to the invention the inclined roof has a shingle provided with an upper edge and inclined downwardly from this latter upper edge at the inclination of the roof. An elongated bar extends longitudinally at the inclination of the roof over the shingle and has at an upper end a hook which is adapted to extend around the upper edge of the shingle so that the bar will remain over the shingle hooked to the upper edge thereof. A plurality of spacers are distributed along the bar and are pivotally connected thereto, these spacers extending laterally from the bar and adapted to maintain a spaced relation between the latter shingle and another shingle situated thereover in partly overlapping relationship with respect thereto, so that air may circulate between the partly overlapping shingles.

It is preferred in particular to provide an arrangement where ends of the spacers are pivotally connected to these bars in such a way that a chain or network of spacers and bars is provided. Such a network of spacers and bars can be easily collapsed or rolled up so that the entire assembly can be transported in a compact condition and then mounted on a roof without any difliculty. The size of the network of bars and spacers depends upon the number of spacers and their distance from each other, so that the assembly of bars and spacers can be adapted to a wide range of different requirements.

With the structure of the invention the spacers of X- shaped cross section have intersecting walls formed with cutouts through which the bars extend for pivotally connecting the spacers to the bars. Since the spacers will in general be made of plastic, the cutouts can be formed without additional operations when the spacers are manufactured, as, for example, by die casting or injection molding. The elongated bars to which the spacers are pivotally connected can have a circular cross section, an elliptical cross section, or a polygonal cross section provided with any desired number of sides. The same is true of the configuration of the cutouts in the spacers, with these cutouts having a configuration which will contribute to the swingable connection of the spacers with respect to the bars to which they are pivotally connected. Thus, if, for example, the elongated bar has a polygonal cross section, then the cutouts will have either a circular configuration or at least a polygonal cross section having a multiplicity of sides. Where the bar is of a circular cross section then the spacers can have cutouts of polygonal cross section.

In order to determine the positions of the spacers along the bars, the curves of the spacers have a size smaller than the corresponding dimension of the bar in a plane parallel to that wall of the spacer which is formed with the cutout. A pair of elongated wall portions of the spacer are formed with the cutout so that these wall portions may be pressed together in order to enable the spacers to be easily moved along a bar to a desired location. Once a given spacer is situated in the desired location along a bar, the springy wall portions thereof are released, so that they return due to their inherent resiliency to their initial positions with respect to each other, thus providing a secure connection between the spacer and the bar. An improvement in the determining of the position of a spacer along the bar is achieved by providing the bar with portions of reduced cross section which preferably are uniformly spaced along the bar, so that the spacers can be situated on these bar portions of reduced cross section. With this type of construction it is possible to achieve the advantage of rendering the components very easy to assemble.

An even simpler mounting of these spacers on the bars in an even shorter period of time can be achieved by providing the spacer walls with cutouts in the form of notches while providing each bar with pairs of enlargements preferably distributed uniformly along each bar, with the space between each pair of enlargements being smaller than the distance between the free edges of the adjoining wall portions of a spacer which is formed with the notches. With this type of construction the notched wall portions of a spacer can be pressed together and mounted from the side on a bar between a pair of enlargements thereof, so that a much simpler and more rapid assembly is achieved, as compared with the case where the wall portions of the spacers are formed with openings and must be displaced longitudinally along a bar in order to be located thereon at a desired location. The enlargements distributed along each bar can have practically any desired configuration. It has proved, however, to be highly desirable to provide these enlargements with a spherical or conical configuration.

The elongated bars have upper ends provided with hooks so that each bar can be placed with this hook around an upper edge of a shingle to remain assembled therewith. Preferably these bars are made of plastic. However, it is also possible to use metallic bars, although the provision of changes in cross section of the bar would in this case render such a metallic bar substantially more expensive than a plastic bar. Such a plastic bar can be manufactured as by die casting or injection molding in such a way that the different cross sections of each bar and the hooks thereof are formed simultaneously with the remainder of the bar.

In order to prevent breaking of the natural or synthetic shingle, such as a slate shingle, in the region where the hook of a bar extends around an upper edge of the shingle, it has proved to be desirable to provide each bar at least along the inner edge of its hook with a plate portion forming a support in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the hook. For similar reasons it is also desirable to provide the hook with at least one reinforcing rib.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of one embodiment of a bar according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration of the bar of FIG. 1 assembled with spacers;

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of the manner in which an assembly of bars and spacers, according to FIGS. 1 and 2, form a network to be placed on a shingle; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective illustration of another embodiment of a bar and spacer assembly according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2, the bar for carrying the spacers of X-shaped cross section is in the form of an elongated body 1 made out of a tough plastic. The bar 1 is provided at it upper end with a hook 2. This hook defines an opening 3 for receiving the upper edge of a roof shingle so that in this way the bar 1 may be hung on a shingle with the hook 2 at the upper end of the bar extending around the upper edge of the shingle and with the bar 1 extending along the shingle over the latter at the inclination of the shingle and thus of the roof itself. Along its inner edge the hook 2 is provided with a plate portion 4 in a plane perpendicular to that of the hook 2, and this plate 4 serves on the one hand to determine the position of the hook on the shingle and on the other hand to distribute over the area of the plate portion 4 the pressure applied by the hook 2 to the shingle. In the illustrated example the elongated bar 1 has a circular cross section and is provided with uniformly spaced pairs of enlargements 5 which in the illustrated example are of spherical configuration.

As may be seen from FIG. 2, the spacers 6 are of X- shaped cross section with each spacer being made of integral intersecting walls which extend transversely with respect to the bar 1. When the bars and spacers are placed on a shingle the spacers of FIG. 2 will have either the wall portion 7a or the wall portion 7b engaging a shingle at the edges of these wall portions, and these wall portions are formed with the cutouts 8 in the form of notches which extend inwardly from the free edges of the wall portions 7a and 7b substantially transversely of the wall portions. It will be noted that the bar 1 extends through a pair of cutouts or notches 8 formed in adjoining wall portions of the spacer. Thus, in the case of the upper spacer of FIG. 2 the bar 1 extends through the notches 8 in the region of an end of the upper spacer 6 at the wall portions thereof, while the lower spacer of FIG. 2 has the bar 1 extending through the notches 8 which are formed in the wall portions 7b thereof. It is to be noted that these notches are formed in all of the wall portions and at the regions of the opposed ends of each wall portion of each spacer. In order to mount a spacer 6 on the bar 1, either the wall portions 7a or wall portions 7b thereof are pressed together and introduced between a pair of enlargements 5. Then the wall portions are released so that they spring apart back to their initial position with respect to each other. Inasmuch as the distance between a pair of enlargements 5 is smaller than the distance between the free edges 9a or 9b of the pair of adjoining wall portions 7a or 7b, respectively, and since the width of each notch or cutout 8 smaller than the diameter of each enlargement 5, the spacers 6 will remain assembled with the bar 1 pivotally connected thereto in the manner shown in FIG. 2 with the positions of the spacers axially along the bar 1 remaining unchanged while the spacers are freely swingable about the bar 1, this action corresponding to that of a hinge pin.

It will be noted from FIG. 2 that the illustrated spacers 6 respectively have the free ends distant from the illustrated carrier bar 1, with these free ends also being formed with the cutouts or notches 8, as described above. lf these free ends are then joined with additional carrier bars 1, in the same way as illustrated in FIG. 2, and if additional spacers are then connected with these additional bars 1, and so on, it is possible to form a chain or network type of assembly 10, as shown schematically in FIG. 3. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the illustrated shingle is corrugated and for this reason the spacers ti are curved. The upper hook ends 2 of the bars I extend around the upper edge of the shingle 11 and all of the elongated bars 1 extend longitudinally along the inclination lines 12 of the roof and thus of the corrugated shingle lll. it will be noted that the bars I extend respectively along inclination lines 12 across which the opposed ends of the spacers 6 extend. The entire system ill of bars and spacers, forming the illustrated network, can be collapsed or rolled up so as to be transported in a compact condition occupying a small space, and without any particular difficulty the assembly til can be laid out onto inclined shingles which may be flat or corrugated, and this positioning of the assembly ill on the shingles can be carried out by unskilled personnel, as experience has demonstrated. FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment of the invention according to which the bar 1 is of a circular cross section and is provided with portions 13 of reduced cross section uniformly distributed along the length of the bar 1. The ends of the spacers 6 illustrated in FIG. 4i are formed at their intersecting wall portions 7a and 7b with elliptical cutouts or openings 14, and as was the case with the above embodiment, it is the edges of the wall portions of the spacers 6 which engage the shingles. The dimension A of each cutout 14, transversely of each wall portion 7a or 7b, is smaller than the corresponding dimension B of the cross section of the bar 1 in a plane 115 which is parallel to a wall portion such as the upper wall portion 7b shown in each spacer 6 of FIG. 4!. The dimension C of each cutout or opening 14, taken longitudinally of each wall portion, is equal to or slightly greater than the largest diameter of the bar 1.

With this embodiment when a pair of wall portions of each spacer, such as the wall portions 7b in FIG. 4, are pressed together each spacer may be displaced longitudinally along the bar 1 until it has been shifted to the desired location along the bar 1. Then the wall portions are released and spring back to their initial positions. By reason of the above dimensional relationship between the cutouts and the bar 1 the spacers will remain assembled with the bar 1 at the portions 13 of reduced diameter thereof. It will be noted that the length of each portion 13 is shorter than the distance between the free edges of the wall portions, such as the wall portions 7b, formed with the cutouts through which the portion 13 extends. Thus, with this construction also the several spacers will be mounted on the bar 1 in a manner preventing the spacers from shifting longitudinally with respect to the bar ll while at the same time being freely swingable with respect thereto.

The bar ll'of FIG. 4 is also formed with a reinforcing plate portion 4 in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the hook 2 and extending along an inner edge thereof for reinforcing the hook 2 and for distributing the pressure onto the shingle over the area of the plate portion d, as described above in connection with the embodiment of FIGS. l and 2. in addition, with the embodiment of FIG. d there is a further reinforcing rib 16 extending along the inner edge of the hook 2 from the plate portion 4, in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4, so

as to prevent in this way also breaking of part of the shingle at the region of the hook.

What is claimed is:

l. For use in an inclined roof having a shingle provided with an upper edge and inclined downwardly from said upper edge at the inclination of the roof, an elongated bar extending long'tudinally at the inclination of the roof over the shingle and having at an upper end a hook which is adapted to extend around the upper edge of the shingle so that the bar will remain over the shingle hooked to the upper edge thereof, and a plurality of spacers distributed along said bar and pivotally connected thereto, said spacers extending laterally from said bar and adapted to maintain a spaced relation between said shingle and another shingle situated thereover in partly overlapping relationship therewith, so that air may circulate between the shingles.

2.. The combination of claim l and wherein said spacers respectively have end portions pivotally connected to said bar.

3. The combination of claim l and wherein said spacers are each provided with intersecting wall portions having edges engaging a shingle, and said wall portions 1 respectively being formed with cutouts through which said bar extends.

4. The combination of claim 3 and wherein said wall portions of each spacer are elongated and extend transversely with respect to said bar, said cutouts each having a dimension transversely of the wall portion in which it is formed smaller than the corresponding dimension of said bar in a plane parallel to each wall portion.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said bar is formed along its length with portions of reduced cross section each extending through the cutouts in the wall portions of each spacer.

6. The combination of claim 3 and wherein said cutouts are in the form of notches extending inwardly from said edges of said wall portions, said bar being formed along its length with pairs of enlargements with each pair of enlargements being spaced from each other by a distance less than the distance between said edges of each spacer and said enlargements having a thickness greater than the width of said notches with the portions of said bar respectively situated between said pairs of enlargements each passing through the notches of a spacer so that the latter will remain assembled with said bar.

7. The combination of claim 6 and wherein said enlargements are respectively of substantially spherical configuration.

b. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said bar is made of plastic.

9. The combination of claim l and wherein said upper end of said bar is provided along an inner edge of the hook with a plate portion adapted to rest against a surface of the shingle to distribute the engagement between the upper end region of the bar and the shingle over the area of said plate portion.

10. The combination of claim 1 and wherein the upper hook of the bar is formed with a reinforcing rib.

11. The combination of claim 1 and wherein a plurality of said bars are arranged parallel to each other and said spacers being distributed between said bars with each spacer having opposed end portions respectively pivotally connected with a pair of adjacent bars.

W l i t 3 

1. For use in an inclined roof having a shingle provided with an upper edge and inclined downwardly from said upper edge at the inclination of the roof, an elongated bar extending longitudinally at the inclination of the roof over the shingle and having at an upper end a hook which is adapted to extend around the upper edge of the shingle so that the bar will remain over the shingle hooked to the upper edge thereof, and a plurality of spacers distributed along said bar and pivotally connected thereto, said spacers extending laterally from said bar and adapted to maintain a spaced relation between said shingle and another shingle situated thereover in partly overlapping relationship therewith, so that air may circulate between the shingles.
 2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said spacers respectively have end portions pivotally connected to said bar.
 3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said spacers are each provided with intersecting wall portions having edges engaging a shingle, and said wall portions respectively being formed with cutouts through which said bar eXtends.
 4. The combination of claim 3 and wherein said wall portions of each spacer are elongated and extend transversely with respect to said bar, said cutouts each having a dimension transversely of the wall portion in which it is formed smaller than the corresponding dimension of said bar in a plane parallel to each wall portion.
 5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said bar is formed along its length with portions of reduced cross section each extending through the cutouts in the wall portions of each spacer.
 6. The combination of claim 3 and wherein said cutouts are in the form of notches extending inwardly from said edges of said wall portions, said bar being formed along its length with pairs of enlargements with each pair of enlargements being spaced from each other by a distance less than the distance between said edges of each spacer and said enlargments having a thickness greater than the width of said notches with the portions of said bar respectively situated between said pairs of enlargements each passing through the notches of a spacer so that the latter will remain assembled with said bar.
 7. The combination of claim 6 and wherein said enlargements are respectively of substantially spherical configuration.
 8. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said bar is made of plastic.
 9. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said upper end of said bar is provided along an inner edge of the hook with a plate portion adapted to rest against a surface of the shingle to distribute the engagement between the upper end region of the bar and the shingle over the area of said plate portion.
 10. The combination of claim 1 and wherein the upper hook of the bar is formed with a reinforcing rib.
 11. The combination of claim 1 and wherein a plurality of said bars are arranged parallel to each other and said spacers being distributed between said bars with each spacer having opposed end portions respectively pivotally connected with a pair of adjacent bars. 